


Dear Eliza and Madison's Square Garden (and other Real-World stuff that Relates to Our Revolutionaries)

by frechi123, Hamino (frechi123)



Series: The Tunnelsquad [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Gen, No Plot, References to the Tunnels AU, Short Stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-23 12:33:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13787865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frechi123/pseuds/frechi123, https://archiveofourown.org/users/frechi123/pseuds/Hamino
Summary: Henry Staunton starts complaining to Eliza about the holes in his buckets while James starts a square shaped garden patch out on their front lawn.Ellie laughs at all the references that Alexander picks up on when she visits or when they write letters, and explains them to him and the others, wondering if each of them will fall to their own. Spoiler alert: they do.(note: Thomas is going to get obsessed with Tank Engines very soon)





	1. There's a Hole in My Bucket, Dear Liza!

**Author's Note:**

> This references some events of "Revelations and Revolutions"; however, this is not an exact sequel. You can read these weird tidbits by themselves.
> 
> Each chapter is a reference and the character it relates to. Literally came up with this while singing "There's A Hole In My Bucket" in my head, and then I had to invent a different Henry because Eliza would never answer to the one that already exists (not even sarcastically), and then Madison Square Garden came to my head, and it was one idea after another...
> 
> Yeah, I'm rambling here XD. Just find some enjoyment, if you please?
> 
> All the chapters are short stories and not necessarily in order!! (The reference in the title tells you whose POV you are in.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry starts bothering Eliza with the bucket, Alex and Peggy are watching in the background, and Ellie visits.

"There's a hole in my bucket, dearest Eliza!"

Ugh, when will Henry Staunton ever get that I am not interested in him?!

Especially when he attacked all my friends last year. They were so traumatized!!! No way am I letting that go.

And frankly, his crush on me is really stressing me out. All he does is say these cheesy pick up lines and try to go find me these glorious rocks all the way over in Rockafeller Valley. I'd probably not mind it if he didn't bring the exact same rock every time. Peggy's getting sick of them clogging up our room.

But out of all the crazy things... this may be the craziest. And I don't know why but I feel like playing along today. I cross over to my bedroom window and look out to the Stauntons' next door where Henry has his head out the window too, looking down at the ground.

"Then fix it, dear Henry," I call back to him.

His head shoots up at my voice. "With what shall I fix it, dear Eliza?" he asks.

"What are you doing?" come two voices from behind. I know that it's Peggy and Alexander that are asking, and I turn around to answer them.

"Don't worry, I'm just joking with him," I say. Alex adds, with a roll of his eyes, "this is super childish, you know. It might as well be some sort of kids song or something."

I roll my eyes in response and turn back to the window. "With straw, dear Henry," I answer back.

"All right," he says, with a cadence of surprise, and disappears from the window. 

"What did you say to him?" Alex asks, looking up once again from his book. Peggy is behind him, trying to find ways to style his hair like Maria taught her.

"I told him to go get straw to fix his bucket; apparently it's got a hole in it." They give me strange looks. "Hey, if there's one thing I can get out of this unsettling crush, it's that he's pretty much open to most of my suggestions, no matter how stupid. Making him look stupid is fun, you have to admit it."

It's true; I had told him to disarm all the traps they keep in the yard at one point; even though he got in trouble for it he assured me it was "worth the risk."

"Liza!" he calls from the outside, holding the bucket and straw with him at the window, "the straw is too long for it! What do I do?"

"Cut the straw then, dear Henry," I say with a wave of my hand. He asks, "with what shall I cut it?"

"With an axe," I reply, and he disappears again.

Ellie apparates into the room moments later. "Why are you singing a nursery rhyme, Eliza?"

All three of us humans jump at the sound of the spirit. "What do you mean, El?" asks Alex, who picks up his glasses from where they fell off his head.

"The way this back and forth is going sounds like a nursery rhyme my mom used to sing to me," she explains, "it's called 'There's a Hole in My Bucket' and the whole point is that Henry asks Liza what he must do to fix the bucket so he can fetch water."

My eyes widen. "Wow, well so far, Henry's had a hole, I told him to fix it with straw, and he says it's too long so I told him to go get an axe to cut it."

"Yep," says Ellie with a nod, "that's how it goes in the song too."

"So what happens next?" asks Peggy, who is trying to tie Alex's hair back up as she has long given up on any creative ideas on what to do with it.

Before she can answer, Henry's at the window again with the axe and the bucket. "The axe is too dull, dear Liza, what should I do now?"

"He's not over that crush, is he?" says Ellie, tsking when I tell her he's not. "Not the very brightest either, so I'm hearing. He's a pathetic one, I'm sure."

I waltz over to the window again, "then sharpen it, Henry. Seems like common sense."

"How do I go about sharpening it, Eliza?" 

I shrug. "On a stone, I suppose, you have a lot of those here, don't you?"

When he leaves again, I flop onto my and Peggy's shared bed. "I swear, this is getting ridiculous. How much longer can he carry on with this?"

Ellie says, "Well, according the song, there's two things he's going to do before he gets back to the bucket again."

"What is it?" I ask. Before she can answer, once again Henry's crying out. I stomp over to the window, why does he keep interrupting?!

"The stone is too dry!"

"Wet the stone, then! With water!" I yell after before he can ask me with what he's supposed to wet it.

"How do I get the water?" he whines.

"In a bucket!"

"But there's a hole in it, remember?!" 

I throw my hands in the air. "Ask your parents to get you a new one, I don't know! Why are you asking me anyway?!"

He looks sheepish before saying "thanks..." and goes away from the window.

I turn back to the others. All three of them are looking in shocked amusement.

"If that didn't show him that he shouldn't be interested in you, then he's really desperate, then."


	2. Maddie's Square Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James starts his square rock garden, Thomas and Aaron question his sanity, and Alex writes a letter to Ellie asking if he knows why his friends are starting to act strange.

"Uh, what is that, Maddie?"

Thomas approaches me from behind having come out from the house. I turn to face him with a smile.

"Hey, Thomas, just messing with some rocks outside. I've nothing better to do," I say, with a slight giggle.

"So you had the sudden urge to arrange rocks on the ground for no reason?" calls Aaron's voice from his window on the second floor. We look up and he's giving me a weird look. I roll my eyes.

"It's not for no reason, I just wanted a rock garden," I say, turning my back on them. I can feel them stare like I've lost my marbles; I ignore it. "Plus, 'Madison's Square Garden' does have a nice ring to it."

There's no more conversation, so I've decided to believe that the two of them have dropped it, for now.

Wrong.

As soon as I back into the house, Alexander's at the dining table writing a letter. Probably to Ellie - he tends to do that nowadays. Meanwhile Thomas and Aaron are discussing something quietly in the sitting area and no one else is to be seen. Probably going for a visit to Tesfore - if only Peggy had invited me!

"What're you talking about?" I ask the pair as I make my way over.

They both jump. "Nothing!" they respond quickly.

A little too quickly. It's easiest to tell when one of them lies; they always speak much faster.

I tap my foot impatiently. "You two are terrible liars. And this is coming from the guy whose voice raises 5 octaves on a daily basis." That's usually from sickness, but if I were to be caught lying, it wouldn't raise that high, but most people can't tell. "You're obviously debating whether or not I should be sent to Shady Crevice."

They look at each other and sigh. Alex looks up from his letter, already covering front and back. "What happened? What's going on?"

"Just stupid rants of absolutely nothing important to anything," I say, crossing my arms. "It's a stupid garden of rocks in a freaking square formation! So what?!" I shouted then, throwing my hands in the air as all three of them stare at me. "I miss doing Surface things like gardening, so sue me!" With that, I fly up the stairs to my room and slam the door, unable to stop the suddenly oncoming tears.

Why am I crying over something so insignificant? It didn't really matter that much. I guess I just miss home. And all the things we used to do. I remember gardening with Theo, Sam, and Lee every time we snuck off to the King's castle before they took Phillip and the Washingtons away from us, before they suspected anything of us, before we did what we had to do. 

Knocks on my door bring me out of deep thought, and when I swing open the door I find Thomas and Aaron standing there.

"We're sorry," says Thomas. "Maybe we shouldn't have been so quick to judge."

I shrug. "It's fine, I guess. Serves me right for having stupid wishes like that."

Aaron shakes his head. "It wasn't stupid. We were. You have the right to miss things like this." 

They follow me into the room. Aaron reaches the window and looks out. "I think you might like what me and Thomas have done," he says, "to spruce up your garden a bit."

Looking over him I see that there are words spelled out in rocks along the ground: Madison Square Garden.

I smile. This garden was looking up.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I did waste time trying to find references to relate to ALL OF THEM. Here they are:
> 
> 'There's a Hole In My Bucket" - references Eliza and OC Henry (not Canon Henry, no way is she calling him 'dear Henry')
> 
> Madison Square Garden - references James (by last name, of course)
> 
> Thomas the Tank Engine - references Thomas (who is now as obsessed with trains as he is with Mac and Cheese)
> 
> "My Son John" and "Frere Jacques" - references John (former it's a nursery rhyme, last one's a song; now he always goes to bed with a shoe on his foot these days)
> 
> Golf and Greek Mythology - references Hercules (first name - Greek descent; last name - Mulligan means messing up and starting again)
> 
> Let Them Eat Cake! - for Lafayette (pretty much cause he's French and is now stuck on Cake forever)
> 
> OOOOH BURN - for Aaron (because we needed more puns for him to suffer through)
> 
> Margaritas - for Peggy (it's her full name in some cases and people tried to convince her to drink them)
> 
> Dear Dumb Poetry - for Angelica (in the DDD series there is Angeline, all perfect on the outside but who has problems like everyone else; and the poet Maya Angelou - Angelica channels her inner poet and still struggles with wondering if anyone will even appreciate it.
> 
> The Sound of Music - for Maria (yes, I know their names aren't pronounced the same now, but still! On the Surface she ends up babysitting kids and trying not to fall in love)
> 
> Madagascar Movies - for Alex (most people thought him to be kinda self-absorbed and still put him on a pedestal anyway)
> 
> Yes, I KNOW it's stupid, but I wrote it anyway :S


End file.
